re Amerikaka (NP?)

[Henry Musikar]

I love my country, but I am not so provincial in time or space as to believe
that the world changed on September 11; if it did, then it changes
CONTINUOUSLY. The world changed when the US pulled out of Vietnam in defeat.
The world changed 200 people were killed by indiscriminate Taliban shelling
during the war with the USSR. Wait a minute, the world didn't change for me
when that happened. I didn't even hear about it. But the world did change
when Pearl Harbor was bombed, leading to extraordinary times that included
the internment of innocent citizens in the US. Not that that could ever
happen again; that bit of history is no longer relevant!We live in a time of
crusades and, potentially, plague. Whole cities may be destroyed.
Unprecedented!

Paul Mackin, I'd like to hear from you on this subject, as you possess a
viewpoint that may be unique on this list. :-)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jasper Fidget" <fakename at tokyo.com>
To: "Pynchon List" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2001 4:32 PM
Subject: Re: re Amerikaka (NP?)


> I'm not talking about being surprised, oh-my-god how could this have
> happened, and I'm not stating that history is irrelevant--in a way, I'm
> saying the contrary: Sept. 11 is now history, and for the foreseeable
future
> it will remain the most significant event of recent American history.  It
> cannot be forgotten, and it should not become irrelevant (as it already
has
> to some); and neither should it be reduced.  But because of its
overwhelming
> effect, and because of its immediacy, it reduces other historical events
in
> their scope, significance (to Americans anyway), and yes, relevance.
>
> These *are* extraordinary times; you're spending too much time in the past
> if you can't see that.  The present should not blind us to the past, but
> neither should the past blind us to the present.  I find it extremely
> strange for you to compare "this war", or Sept. 11--which was my intended
> comparison for the cusps quote--to events that occur every day.
>
> Jasper Fidget
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Henry Musikar" <scuffling at hotmail.com>
> To: "Pynchon List" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2001 12:39 PM
> Subject: Re: re Amerikaka (NP?)
>
>
> > It worries me that they (politicians and other media) are getting people
> to
> > believe that history is no longer relevant in these "extraordinary
times."
> > There is, of course, historical precedent for that belief....
> >
> > History is larger than individuals. If this war is a cusp, then there
are
> > cusps every day. History doesn't get hit by lightning. The events of
> 11-Sep
> > didn't surprise the politicians whose report on terrorism was ignored by
> > Bush.
> >
> > It's been a long time coming.
> > It's gonna be a long time gone.
> > And it appears to be a long time before dawn.
> > And you know, the darkest hour
> > is always just before the dawn.
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Jasper Fidget" <fakename at tokyo.com>
> > To: "Pynchon List" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> > Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2001 11:42 AM
> > Subject: Re: re Amerikaka (NP?)
> >
> >
> > > On historical relevance, I think that after catastrophic events,
> formerly
> > > relevant history tends to get boxed up and stored in the attic, not
> > because
> > > it's necessarily *less relevant*, just that its context suddenly
belongs
> > to
> > > a place prior to the catastrophic dividing line (in this case,
> obviously,
> > > Sept 11).  History has a way of segmenting itself in this manner
> > > (prelapsarian, ante and post diluvian, pre and post Holocaust, etc)
> > > especially to the culture-society-zeitgeist to which it's occurred.
> "That
> > > was then, this is now."
> > >
> > > I've posted before that Sept. 11 is a dividing point for contemporary
> > > American history, blowing the past out of context, revectoring the
> future.
> > > I've since recalled through discussion that Pynchon talks about this
in
> > the
> > > context of the lightning flare that highlights a single moment and
> divides
> > > past from future: "the ones who do get hit experience a singular
point,
> a
> > > discontinuity in the curve of life" (664).  And Slothrop: "Do you know
> > what
> > > the time rate of change _is_ at a cusp?  _Infinity_, that's what!
A-and
> > > right across the point, it's _minus_ infinity!  How's _that_ for
sudden
> > > change, eh?" (664).
> > >
> > > Sudden change indeed and oh-boy.
> > >
> > > Jasper Fidget
> > >
>
>
>